


bring these sorrow-filled bodies home

by uncertainly



Category: NCT (Band), WayV | 威神V
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Angst, Dystopia, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Mild Blood, Non-Graphic Violence, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:54:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29018517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uncertainly/pseuds/uncertainly
Summary: when it happened, the water came very slowly. it rose like the usual tide, something that most people took for granted. but when it came, it didn't stop. jaehyun doesn’t call it a natural disaster because nature was never designed to create disasters. humans simply did not pay attention to the world around them; they created the disaster.
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin & Huang Ren Jun, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun & Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26
Collections: Challenge #4 — Awaken The World





	bring these sorrow-filled bodies home

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. thank you so much to the alw fest mods for coordinating this and for your endless patience. thank you [kly](https://twitter.com/keylimefloat?s=09) for being so lovely while i took too long to write the fic and then for beta-ing it!! 
> 
> 2\. the fic idea was born because of a song called 'the bug collector' by hayley heynderickx but i churned the actual fic out while listening to the genshin ost ಠ-ಠ
> 
> 3\. please do heed the tags, as the fic does deal with minor descriptions of violence and some mentions of death due to the nature of the setting.
> 
> 4\. this is my first time writing a non-dream ship so i'm still testing out characterisations and other fun stuff!

sicheng's garden smells sweet today, with colourful blooms covering almost every inch of the soil. and in those spots where the flowers won't grow, baby green shoots rise from the earth. donghyuck used to think of it as a pointless garden — it doesn't grow any medicinal herbs, nor any plants they can use as food. it's just a field full of wildflowers growing unbound. it didn't make sense to him why sicheng tended to it with such care still, why he wouldn't grow anything else. 

\-------

growing up with sicheng was a lesson in beauty. renjun would watch him work the whole day, muscles aching with the strain of raising himself and a little child he was never meant to look after. but every night, almost without fail, sicheng would move the sparse, makeshift furniture in their tiny home to make some space right in the centre of the room. and there, in the darkness save for a few lamps, he would dance. it would exhaust him even further. there wasn't any music, though, renjun had complained once, but sicheng had only replied that it didn't matter. his dance was a reminder for himself of his art, of things done not for survival but just for oneself. like stitching a rose on a towel that they used—it would become dirty every day and really, the rose didn't need to be there, but their mama had sewed it on anyway, just because she liked roses. at that time, renjun had only understood little of what sicheng had told him, but it stayed with him. he learnt to hum when he did his chores, dream about space, and raise ladybugs. the world stayed heavy with grief around him but renjun decided to find reasons to be happy despite it. 

\-------

early mornings were always a busy affair for jaehyun. there was comfort in hearing renjun and donghyuck bickering in the garden. he would turn over in the sheets, eyes falling upon sicheng's peaceful visage. jaehyun doesn't believe in a god but he makes sure to thank all of the stars every morning for these moments of calm. he can still remember the lines of fear and desperation etched onto sicheng's face, his arms wrapped on renjun's unconscious body, his fingertips soaked with blood. the vision was gory and heartbreaking, but not just because of the idea of renjun slowly dying in his brother's arms. no, it's the idea that the world wasn't always like this. a few decades back, people would walk freely, go on picnics, and shop at grocery stores without thinking twice about it—that gets to him the most. the gravest reminder of their tragedy. so these mornings are important to jaehyun. the memories of all their little triumphs—every time a new flower grew in sicheng's yard, the times he'd watch renjun's nervous fingers heal their wounds, and every time donghyuck returned home with logs of wood but also a pretty discarded trinket he found on the streets and asked to keep it for himself. these things kept piling up until they became something worth living for.

\------

the bug collector saves donghyuck's life. this is before the four of them were together and still existed as  _ sicheng-and-renjun _ and  _ jaehyun-and-donghyuck _ . jaehyun carries donghyuck for miles until they reach what was probably a rundown grocery store. "are you going to go in there, hyung?" donghyuck tugs at his sleeve worriedly. jaehyun only nods, trying to figure out if anyone is actually in there. there's no sign of a vehicle having passed by, and there is close to no noise. there are deep vines growing through the doors of the store, which look like automatic glass doors that have been forced apart because of the plants. the building still shows signs of the flooding, the watermarks reaching almost halfway to the roof. 

\------

when it happened, the water came very slowly. it rose like the usual tide, something most people took for granted. but when it came, it didn't stop. seven years since then and most people still haven't forgotten the feeling of being stuck in a wave, feeling the water rise and rise till it reaches your mouth and your nose. and then it kills you. jaehyun doesn’t call it a natural disaster because nature was never designed to create disasters. humans simply did not pay attention to the world around them; they created the disaster. they wrote their own tragedies with the giant chimneys of dark, black smoke and the plastic choking the pipelines, and the forests full of trees ravaged to the ground. it wasn't a single person who did this. jaehyun's father would tell him that this was the curse of the human condition. we can never raise a finger and say, "this person right here made the mistake". we're all tied to the earth and we all walk upon it with our failures. the curse is that we never give ourselves the time to accept our failures, we just walk over them, hoping they'll disappear. 

\------

jaehyun puts donghyuck down and holds his tiny fingers firmly with his own hand. "we're going to go in there together, bub," he answers, "promise me you won't let go of my hand." donghyuck nods solemnly at that and they walk in together. jaehyun has no weapons with him, so he knows they don't have much time. 

the inside of the store is humid and crawling with dense shrubbery. some of the shelves have been completely covered with plants, but it seems like people have been here often as some of the shelves are uncovered, the plants cut away. 

jaehyun does not like to disturb the plants too much. this is now their home, and he respects that. with donghyuck by his side, he peruses the aisles carefully. there's enough dry food to last a couple of weeks, and jaehyun shoves what he can into his rucksack. he finds a big metal bottle on one of the shelves and hastily takes it with them. there's never enough clean places to keep their water, and no matter how heavy the bottle is, it would help. 

they’re towards the back of the store when the sound of tires rolling comes from outside. that's not always a good sign because the state patrol often supervises areas randomly looking for defectors. even before the flood, the government was never good for the people. but their parents told him that it just got worse after the water came. everyone was locked up inside for their protection. defectors like him are people who left those walls, who believe they can learn how to live  _ with _ the world rather than against it.

patrol cars are almost always filled with armed guards and getting found is not an option for them. jaehyun's mind spins as he tries to come up with a way for them to escape. 

when he was still alive, jaehyun's father would tell him to never fear the trees, "they grow just like us, to survive. hating or fearing them would be like fearing ourselves." as someone who grew up in the aftermath of the flood, jaehyun grew up hearing about the way the buildings were torn apart by the foliage, how the plants ripped through the ceilings.

but as he spots the dark backroom of the store, jaehyun knows it's their only way out. generally, backrooms of grocery stores don't have anything valuable in them and are densely populated with flora. though, the flora would usually penetrate the structure of the building, leaving walls damaged. jaehyun hopes there is an opening somewhere in the backroom, just enough for them to crawl through and escape into the wilderness once again. 

donghyuck looks worried and he can probably sense something is wrong, but he follows jaehyun towards the back of the store anyway, holding tightly onto his hand. it's moments like these that are the hardest for them, jaehyun thinks, when the danger is at the hands of a known and familiar enemy. when you know you're being hunted down, any trace you've left behind being tracked relentlessly. the waves, though slow, were bigger than this. it was obvious the world was ending when they came. these patrols just feel like slow poison: you don't know where you've been bitten. you don't know what's really wrong but something is amiss. the air changes when these men with guns arrive. 

when they reach the backroom they have to settle into a crawl, making their way through the thick vines. jaehyun can see a little bit of light peek through—it looks like sunlight. he tells donghyuck to go through the hole first and wait until he gets out. his little body shivers with anxiety, sweat glistening on his temple. jaehyun presses a kiss onto that temple, a silent blessing, and watches as donghyuck crawls through.

they can't make any noise, so once donghyuck has crawled out, jaehyun can only count on him to wait there patiently like he knows he will. but as jaehyun moves towards the opening of the hole, he hears the distinct sounds of heavy footsteps get closer to where he is. for a moment, he cannot think of anything, mind blank with fear and desperation. this is their only way out and if they're found, he will never see donghyuck again. the sounds grow louder now, and jaehyun doesn't know what to do. he can't call out to donghyuck and he has no way to go out and pull him back in time. a hot rush of tears stream down his cheeks, his heart working so fast he can hear every beat. he remains there, crouched against the dirty, humid floors of the grocery store backroom, crying for his baby brother with no idea how to save him.

but the sounds. the sounds keep passing by, as if there was no reason for them to stop. they walk past the little hole he sits next to, hiding from sight. he can see someone observing it but they, too, walk away as if nothing is wrong. there is no sign of donghyuck. in what feels like an eternity, he hears the car peel away from the road. his mind reels, his body frozen in both shock and fear. 

\-----

donghyuck still sees that little boy in renjun. renjun grew up well, his stature sturdy despite the narrow frame of his body. his hair is dark, almost black; it shines in the sunlight as he bends down to release a tiny ladybug onto the soil. he still looks like donghyuck's mysterious bug collector. it took some time for them to find each other, but donghyuck is grateful for their little family each day. and renjun. god, renjun. he still feels like a second kind of home, a place for safety, the thorny stem of a soft flower. 

he still collects those bugs, drawing sketches of them in his little book. the pages are covered with tiny bugs spilling over one another. the collection is vast and it tells stories of renjun and sicheng’s journey to this place, a record of all the crawling companions they’ve met along the way. renjun doesn’t store the bugs in a jar, like people used to before the flood, but he collects their visits by carefully etching their patterns onto the paper. 

\-----

it’s on one of his bug-collecting expeditions that renjun saves donghyuck. sicheng would usually let renjun go as far as the back of the grocery store, but he had promised sicheng never to cross the fence into the plot of the store. so he'd made his way there to find pretty beetles and lots and lots of spiders along the way, until he'd reached the store and seen  _ him _ . it was a boy in a muddied, green jacket, crawling through the hole at the back of the building. renjun was surprised to see someone there because the store was so far away from the big walls that hardly anyone knew about it. and he was sure no one knew about the holes in the backroom. that section of the building was almost completely covered with vines, and that made it impossible to find the cracks in the walls. 

but the little boy was there and he seemed to be waiting for something as he slowly got out, back against the wall next to the hole. renjun was going to leave. he had promised sicheng-ge he would never go past the fence, and he knew he should listen to his promise. but the boy looked nervous, his shoulders trembling. surely, he wasn't a bad person, right? renjun knew what it felt like to be alone and he didn't think anyone else should feel that way. he had made his mind up. he was going to talk to the boy, even if that meant walking closer to the store. 

as he made his way across to where the boy stood, he looked up and saw the boy looking at him, and he smiled. the boy just kept staring, as if he didn’t know what to do with renjun’s smile. but before renjun could really do anything, he heard the unmistakable sounds of a patrol jeep. renjun felt his stomach drop, his palms breaking out in a sweat. he knew all about the people in those cars, their guns and loud voices, what they had done to mama. renjun remembers begging, asking them to please stop hurting his mama, but they didn’t listen and took her away. they would have taken him, too, if sicheng-ge hadn’t helped him run away. renjun knows he has to leave before they come to the back of the store. he knows they will check every part of the plot. but he also knows they’ll never cross the fence and check among the trees. the trees will protect him. 

but what about the boy? will they take him away, too? renjun doesn’t want him to go away! they can’t take him and he won’t let them, not this time, not like his mama. so he grabs the boy’s wrist and pulls him to the fence. the boy soundlessly struggles at first, as if he knows he can’t break the silence. but when he hears the sounds of the people in the car, he stills and lets renjun drag him out the fence and deeper into the trees. halfway into their escape,the boy yanks his hand back. there’s another moment of stillness as they simply stare at each other, their chests moving rapidly, the sounds of their breathing almost too loud. then, the boy in front of renjun bursts into tears. his cheeks line with wetness and his body heaves with the effort of trying to breathe between his sobs. "my brother! he's back there! hyungie's back there, we have to go get him!" he yells at renjun.

renjun's blood runs cold. the boy wasn't waiting for something, he was waiting for  _ someone.  _ and now, the people in the car were going to take him away, just like they did to hi _ s  _ mama. and it was all his fault. renjun feels tears well up in his eyes and he wipes at them furiously. he's going to help the boy find his brother. he won't let anyone get taken away ever again.

\-----

they come home to sicheng that day. all three of them, a morose renjun accompanied by a young man and a small boy. sicheng only stares at them for a moment, before ushering them inside. 

\-----

years later, in the comfort of their bed, jaehyun will ask him why he let them in that day, unfamiliar as they were, and sicheng will tell him that it didn't matter who they were because renjun was safe. that was the first thing he noticed, and that kept him from sending them away.

\-----

their eyes have the same lost, forlorn look but their gazes lose emptiness once sicheng has fed them. their rations will now run very low but it doesn’t matter because nothing feels more important than this. the young (pretty) man seems to shred some of his wariness after the meal as he and sicheng figure out what to make of this. the little boy seems angry and doesn’t respond to renjuns’s timid questions, but sicheng knows it will take time. children are resilient, but they are also free with their pain. they let themselves suffer outright, rather than hiding it all away where it slowly transforms into bitterness, as adults do. renjun was the same when the guards had taken away their mother while sicheng had buried it inside because he couldn’t deal with both the terror and the grief of his loss. he had a small child to look after and a world that had given up on them. how does one build a home through something like that?

it was frightening then, and just as frightening now, with more people in their tiny home. there are countless battles to fight and many days filled with stillness and grief.

\-----

sicheng no longer dances alone. sometimes donghyuck will sing for him and renjun will join in. other times, he will patiently guide the other three, show them intricate routines of almost-forgotten movements. jaehyun dances with him, too, a hand on his waist and a comforting chin on his shoulder. the world moves around them—beginning and ending, again and again. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you, dear reader, for reading this, and i hope you enjoyed! may we all have a soft home to dance in just like sicheng does （＾－＾）


End file.
